Sharp XLHP535

When my small, portable CD player finally packed in after several years of use, I realised it was not only time to seek a new music playing device, but also advance onwards and upwards as far as sound quality and hi-fi features are concerned. So I bought this small micro-system, at a reasonable price of just a bit over £100.

I have now had this system for over two years and have encountered very few problems with it. However, let us go through the bad points first:

My first worry when I bought this system was the fragility of the CD-trays. Although there maybe 5 of these, because of this number, they have had to be placed one on top of the other, and are very thin. When opened, they hang by perhaps 3mm of plastic, and although I have encountered no actually problems with them, I would be willing to bet that one would snap off if anything more than the required pressure was applied.

Secondly, the LED display, although sharp and informative on the current state of the CD player (i.e. which CD drives are in use etc) is not incredibly attractive, mixing what to me appeared as a strange choice of colours including classic white for the main track number and time display, green for other small icons, and orange for several other lables such as the extra bass icon. Although not a major problem, I found this scheme slightly less desirable than other makes.

The remote control, although very useful in many aspects, comes without the ability to open or close CD trays, or for that matter change the channel frequency on the radio, which I found frustrating on several occasions.

The only actual technical problem I came across was in the past few weeks, where the open cd tray button fell inside the unit when pressed, probably due to over use. This meant I had to open up the back of the unit and fix it back into place, something that I'm sure many owners would be unwilling to do.

HOWEVER, one must always, I suppose, look on the good sides of a product, and of this one there are many.

Firstly, the sound quality is good for such a sized unit, and will easily fill a small to medium sized room, making it ideally suited for a bedroom or small lounge or hallway.

The 5-drawer CD changer is incredibly useful, and I have often found myself flipping between tracks on different CDs. (The unit does tend to get rather heated after repeated use of these different drives however, but this has never affected it's performance).

Thirdly, the blue glow (which can be switched off) emitting from around the volume control wheel in the centre of the unit was rather to my liking, and certainly redeems the micro-system concerning the LED colour scheme.

The speakers are good, and the bass is carried across well. Also, the digital tuner makes picking up a crystal clear frequency on a radio station much simpler than analogue nonsence, and the unit also comes complete with sleep timer and tape player/recorder. Six different equalizer settings are to be had, and it is track programmable (as well as radio station programmable).

All in all, I have been very pleased with this unit, and as a dedicated music fan, have used it frequently (every night without fail). The sound quality has not diminished as far as I'm aware, and apart from several minor problems, this is well worth the money. Although possibly lacking in use if it is required to fill a large room with sound, this is perfectly suited to smaller areas such as a bedroom, and would serve any teenager proud. Happy listening.